The present disclosure relates generally to well drilling operations and, more particularly, to particulate reinforced braze alloys for drill bits.
Hydrocarbon recovery drilling operations typically require boreholes that extend hundred and thousands of meters into the earth. The drilling operations themselves can be complex, time-consuming and expensive and expose the drilling equipment, including drill bits, to high pressure and temperatures. The high pressures and temperatures degrade the drilling equipment over time. Fixed cutter drill bits, for example, may include polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) cutters that are bonded to a drill bit body during production. The high pressures and temperatures experienced downhole may degrade the bonds, causing the some of the PDC cutters to detach from the drill bit, reducing the effectiveness of the drill bit and requiring it to be removed to the surfaces for replacement.
While embodiments of this disclosure have been depicted and described and are defined by reference to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, such references do not imply a limitation on the disclosure, and no such limitation is to be inferred. The subject matter disclosed is capable of considerable modification, alteration, and equivalents in form and function, as will occur to those skilled in the pertinent art and having the benefit of this disclosure. The depicted and described embodiments of this disclosure are examples only, and not exhaustive of the scope of the disclosure.